Hope for Tomorrow
by Larime Winddark
Summary: HGSS When a strange young woman is found on the outskirts of Hogwarts grounds it is up to Snape and Hermione to protect her, this may bring them closer than they think
1. Shifters?

Author's Note.... Okay folks listen up I'm only going to do this once.... you all know it anyway... Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter is not mine... Not mine... Severus isn't *sob* Hermione isn't However all of those characters you don't recognize those are mine so please don't play with them without my permission... The idea of Shifters... at least in this form The Corie People are MINE *dances around knowing she did do something* The story is also mine so enjoy.... 

Translation from the diary of Robert Lore 

14, July 1241

_They say time heals all wounds. I have considerable reason to doubt this old adage, reason flavored with the truth of a long history and even longer time. Time had come in plenty, seasons numbering in the tens of thousands all lining up like toy marionette soldiers. The history of the shifters, and even the prehistory is riddled with inaccuracies but one thing is certain the origins lie with the dragons. The truth is what I hope to find out. I plan to travel to the largest concentration of shifters in the known world. Maybe I will find what I am searching for. _

19 August 1214

_I have arrived at Gelust, the largest known community of Shifters and been here for a sevenday. What remains of Clan Coben is here, from what I can piece together there are only two remaining of the most powerful and oldest Clan alive. Cold Heart I am told is here, he is the Corie Historian. The Corie I am told is what the shifter's call their people. So far I have only spoken with Cold Heart through intermediates, tomorrow I hope that the meeting I have set up with come through. As for the Corie I have learned that there were originally eight Clans. The Coben was the oldest and the first among them are the most powerful shifters of the Corie community. Said that both of the remaining members can take any form they choose and within a form even alter appearance. Members of the Coben Clan were mostly invincible, and immortal capable of surviving all but a mortal wound. Stopac was the second Clan from what I hear no living members remain. Trestel is the next there are many of them all of fairly low power, my Guide Giselle tells me that no members of the Trestel Clan are able to take more than three forms. Fauge is the Clan that is most hidden in mystery though it like the Stopac Clan is dead. I am told that the power of the Fauge was nearly that of the Coben Clan, though they could not take the form of immortal creatures. The Deaco Clan and the Mauck Clan are present in small numbers but none are really powerful nor are they very long lived, seeming born with nothing but bad luck. Buell I am told are Immortal as well as the Coben but only a handful of members remain and none of them hold hardly any power. Aguost is the last Clan formed and they seem to be mostly outcasts, more wizard than true shifter, the Shift comes difficult to them and seems to be tied to the moon. They seem similar in power to werewolves but it isn't contagious. They call for lights out now so I will conclude for the night._

20 August 1214 

_I was met at the door by the other remaining member of the Coben family, the daughter of Cold Heart himself. Her name is Lena and she is fascinating. She appears to be about nineteen, without the ravages that childbearing brings upon a woman. How old she is exactly I couldn't conclude but I know she is old. I am under the impression that she normally resides in the normal world. She is beautiful, amazing but from speaking to her I have concurred that she isn't really worried with continuing the Coben line. It is sad to think that it may end with her. More importantly than Lena however is my account of the meeting with Cold Heart. I have heard now from the oldest existing Corie alive the history of how the Corie them selves came to be. As unusual as his story sounds I believe it, even that being contrary to my nature I don't hesitate to add. _

_Told by Cold Heart to myself._

_Long ago what you know as dragons were not as they were today. They were both highly intelligent but also practiced magicians. The most powerful among them were old, and as they began to feel the ravages of time come upon them they wanted to leave the world a better place than they had come into it. Someone, not even we Corie know who wanted to create something. In order to create something wonderful you must first give up something. The deal was made that the Dragons, the people of the sky would forfit the majority of their power and would lose the intelligence that they prized so greatly. What they created were the Corie, I myself am old enough to remember the last of the dragons that was still able to speak_

_Cold Heart continued, the strangest thing that I remember him saying was that he felt that perhaps the world would have been better off with the dragons as they were rather that the Corie. _

_21 August 1214_

_I was escorted out of Gelust this morning by Lena, her eyes were dry when she told me but I felt the pain without even trying. It hung heavy in the air all morning. I am told that Cold Heart died in the night in a fight with one of the Aguost Clan. Lena refused to speak of the cause but she did usher me out quickly. _

_4, March 1215_

_I received a strange visitor last night before I went to bed. At first I just thought the person at the door was a beggar but when the young man brushed back his black hair he reveled the pointed ears characteristic of the Corie people I knew him for what he was. He was in bad shape and looked worried. I ushered him in. He was followed inside the house by a wolf the size of a foal, a huge grey fellow with jaws that could have taken in my head easily. The young man introduced himself as Charles. His accent was clearly English in origin but had a slight Irish lilt. I could tell that he was one of the Corie that remained in the normal world, posing as a human. Mauck Clan I am told. His pale eyes were haunted when he asked for a place to spend the night. I found out this morning that his companion the huge wolf was Giselle, my guide from Gelust. Even now in wolf form her jade colored eyes study me as I write. I have yet to learn to purpose of their visit however. _

_6, March 1215_

_I am told that the Corie them selves have broken up, what few that are remaining are in hiding. Charles cam to me to seek help for a few of his kind. I agreed to help and will hopefully be able to set many of them up with jobs and a place in the normal world as Gelust is no more. I tried to inquire about Lena but Giselle became greatly agitated and told me to mind my own business. I fear that the people I have admired so greatly are soon to be no more if something isn't done._


	2. Finders Keepers?

_I was contemplating the gently falling snow, among other things, that late evening when I heard it. The moan of pain was unmistakable as I had heard similar escape from my own lips from time to time. Little would I know that investigating that one sound would change my life forever _

Severus Snape was more than a bit lonely. Christmas season always made him feel alone, and in turn his mood was darker and he became more apt to snap. His dark eyes scanned the snowy forest as he wrapped his cloak further around his body to ward off the wind and snow. He was just beginning to head back to the dark shape that was Hogwarts when he heard it. It was barely audible above the wind, and soft in any matter, a moan of pain coming from the edge of the dark forest. With the curiosity of a cat he carefully made his way toward the sound. A pained yelp signaled his arrival as he nearly stumbled over the small body laying in the snow. A girl, well more of a young woman lay torn and bleeding at his feet. Gently he knelt brushing the snow out of her face, it wasn't one of the students, her face was thin her hair long and a deep blue-black. What little she was wearing was thread bare and beyond repair. He picked up the too thin body and she gave a sharp intake of breath and pain filled golden eyes opened and met his own. His almost let out a moan of his own, he suddenly felt her pain. Her eyes were searching and at the same time lost and alone, then seeming to find what she was looking for she fell limp in his arms. Severus stumbled blindly through the front doors and up to the hospital wing. Later he wouldn't remember how he could possibly have made it as far as he did wrapped in pain that was not his own. 

_I didn't know what to do. She was in as much or more pain than I had ever been in, though what I was getting was more general. It wasn't enough for me to even be able to really tell what was wrong with her. I could also get an echo of fear from her vague but there. I think I may have stumbled on a lone student and can't begin to imagine the thoughts that went though her mind. I only know it was a girl because I saw a swirl of long hair but I can't even remember what color it was. _

__

__

"Poppy! Hurry, emergency!" Severus half panted half yelled as he stumbled through the door. He set the now shivering body on the nearest bed.

Poppy rushed through the door to her office followed by Dumbledore. Before they even got near the young woman on the bed began to tremble and when Dumbledore went to lean over her she abruptly shifted into a large black wolf and crashed into Severus's legs with a startled growl and a yelp as she leapt off the bed. Dumbledore paused and studied the now wolf girl as sharply as she was studying him. "Now Severus what an interesting find, a shifter And a very injured one." He said a smile beginning to form. 

Severus felt like whining himself, when the girl was in contact with him he could feel her pain ten times more sharply. "What are you going to do about her. I could use my legs back!" He snapped using the wolf for support as much as she was using him. 

Dumbledore smiled his eyes sparkling. "Well it looks like she chose you for her protector and I greatly doubt you could convince her to stay here for treatment, or even to be treated. I will have to find someone that she will agree with to help you of course. " 

Severus sputtered. "You _have_ to be joking." He growled not noticing that one hand was gently rubbing the trembling wolf's ears. 

"Well let's see what she does." Dumbledore said while at the same time taking a step toward Severus and the wolf. The wolf in turn scrabbled away stumbling into the legs of the person coming through the infirmary door. Hermoine would have fell over from the force of not only the hit but also the shared pain of the wolf if Severus hadn't caught her. When she ran into Hermoine it seemed that she lost control on wolf form and shifted back into human form. She looked up at Hermoine then over to Severus and then back and forth again. Suddenly she mumbled what was unmistakable a curse even though no one in the room understood the words. Severus wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying and was able to catch the last part of her comment. 

"I understood, but I don't." Severus commented and hissed as the young woman shifter her weight and hit another sore spot on her body. 

Dumbledore looked at Hermoine's white lined face and Severus's tight lipped on and sighed. "Lock it down girl." 

Her eyes widened and suddenly neither Severus nor Hermoine could feel her pain. She shifted her weight again and muttered her tone dark. 

"I caught a little bit of it again. I don't know the language at all but I think the trick is to hear but not hear it." Severus said as the young woman leaned against his legs again. 

" Well what did she say?" Dumbledore asked as he studied the young woman. She had long graceful limbs, she was pretty but not beautiful. Her face was long with high check bones, her nose was fine but long in keeping with a wolf's features. Over all the impression Dumbledore got was wolf. 

"Why me, Why now. When I am soo busy already. I think, I can't be sure though." Severus said a slight tremor in his voice. The girl was a little too unnerving even for his taste. 

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily. "Miss Granger I have a very large favor to ask of you. This young lady is a shifter and she seems to be unable to understand or explain herself to us so dear Professor Snape is going to take her to his manor where she can get a grip on her situation and heal in peace. I would like you to go with him to help, and so that she will have a little bit of female company. I have a few books on shifters that I could loan you so that you could read up on the situation." 

Severus stiffened his eyes murderous and let go of Hermoine as he realized that he was still supporting her. Hermoine looked at the young woman leaning against Professor Snape's legs and smiled. The lure of books and learning was just too tempting, even if she _would_ have to deal with her least favorite professor throughout the Christmas holiday. In addition to that the young woman leaning against Professor Snape's legs had already changed her shape once in Hermoine's sight, without a wand, a very useful skill if it was learnable. 

_I figured that someone as intelligent as she seemed to be must know something about Professor Snape that I didn't. She was leaning against him as if she was sure that he would stand between her and any danger that would present its self. It didn't help his image that he was patting her head gently brushing her hair out of her eyes and every time she would shudder he would mummer under his breath. I could hear him and I think she could as well. _

"I think that would be as good a way to spend the holiday as any Sir." She told Dumbledore, ignoring Professor Snape's furious glare. 

Dumbledore smiled at her. "You can go and get your things packed. I think it may be best if you spend the night in the dungeons to help with this young lady and to better get her trust." He said quietly. Dumbledore looked at the shifter and she gave him what was an unmistakable smile of thanks. After Hermoine slid back out the door Dumbledore turned back to Severus. "You really don't want a shifter at the school Severus. Word would get out somehow and do you want Voldemort to know that she is here?" 

Severus sighed his expression still dark. "Only one question, who is to be Miss Granger's chaperone?" 

Dumbledore chuckled. "You'll survive Severus, she won't kill you." He told his potion's master before turning and heading out of the door. 

Severus mumbled to himself and then looked down. The girl was looking up at him her expression openly thoughtful. She held a hand up, Severus took it and helped her to her feet. She took one wobbly step and stumbled. With a sigh Severus scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the dungeons. As soon as she was safely in his arms she snuggled deep into his chest trembling and as Severus brushed a strand of hair back from her face he brushed against her ears and gave a start. Her ears were finely pointed but her hair would artfully cover them if she was used to keeping them hid. 

Once in his rooms Severus laid her down on the couch and flopped down in the chair across from her. She was sound asleep and as soon as she was laying down curled into fetal position, getting her limbs as close to her body as was physically possible. 

Authors Note: Okay folks give me feed back... should I bother to continue with the story????


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